May 27
Military investigators
describe how Marine Sergeant
shot 5 Iraqi civilians after
they were ordered out of a
taxi and had their hands in
the air.

May 28
More than 1,000 members of
the British military have
deserted since the start of
the Iraq war, Labour MP John
McDonnell said that the
number of absconders had
trebled since the invasion
with more soldiers
`questioning the morality
and legality of the
occupation`.

May 29
Insurgents have
attacked British forces in
Iraq nearly 60 times a month
since the start of the year.
The new figure, covering the
first four months of 2006,
is a 26 per cent increase on
2005.

May 30
The top American commander
in Iraq has decided to move
1500 reserve troops now
deployed in Kuwait into the
volatile Anbar province in
western Iraq to help quell a
surge in insurgents attacks.

May 31
Iraqi army and police
officers and several people
who said they were witnesses
and relatives of the dead
said U.S. soldiers killed
two women, aged 60 and 20,
and a mentally handicapped
man in their home on May 4,
in Samarra, after insurgents
fired on the troops

June 1
Prime Minister
Maliki lashed out at the
American military,
denouncing what he
characterized as habitual
attacks by troops against
Iraqi civilians. He said
violence against civilians
had become a `daily
phenomenon` by many troops
in the American-led
coalition who `do not
respect the Iraqi people.`

June
2
Iraqi police accused US
troops of rounding up and
deliberately shooting 11
people in a house, including
five children and four
women, before blowing up the
building in the town of
Ishaqi in March.

John
Bolton, US ambassador to UN,
describes on Fox News, the
purpose of recent
`diplomatic overtures` of US
Secretary of State Condi
Rice to Iran as an attempt
to:

`……..remove all excuses
from Iran and its supporters
to say, `We went the extra
mile. We gave Iran really,
this last chance to show
that they are serious when
they say they don`t want
nuclear weapons.` This is
put or shut up time for
Iran.`

*This
estimate is only of
English language media
reported deaths. A peer
reviewed epidemiological
survey (Roberts
et al., The Lancet, Vol 364
Issue 9448 pp 1857 1864)
estimated that in the 18
months following the
invasion 100, 000 excess
deaths or more have
occurred. Violence
accounted for most of the
excess deaths and air
strikes from coalition
forces accounted for most
violent deaths. Criticisms
of IBC methodology can be
found at
medialens